A Serialized Novel about the Great Velian War

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Night’s End

Tiscornia and Evans decided to walked back together after Turner left with the bartender. Due to the amount he had drunk, Evans was stumbling a bit and he had to lean on Tiscornia for support. A few minutes into their walk, Callahan ran up to join them, “Hey! Sergeant! Lance!”

Waving to Callahan with one hand and propping up Evans with the other, Tiscornia said, “Hey Callahan, where’s the Private you were with earlier?”

“I’m sleazy, not evil. She was sober and was into it. In fact, I wanted to go back to the camp, but she was impatient and led me to the alleyway.”

“So why is she regretting it?”

“Well I have protection in my kit bag, not in some random alleyway. And so… I… uh put some rounds on target. So she ran off to clean herself because she doesn’t want to get in the family way.”

“You are sleazy,” Tiscornia said somewhat scornfully, “What if she tracks you down?”

“She never got my name, and she’s from a motor supply battalion that’s moving out tomorrow. She just knows I’m infantry, but that’s all.

Evans slurred his speech at Callahan, “You made love to a woman without knowing her name?”

“Two things Sergeant,” Callahan counted on his fingers, “One, I overheard her name, it’s Ellen. Two, I fucked her in an alley, I didn’t made love.”

Attempting to walk for himself, Evans pushed off of Tiscornia and started to point at Callahan, “What is with you people and your cavalier attitude for the most sac..” Evans interrupted himself with a burp, “most sacred bonds of marriage.”

“Hey,” Callahan pointed at him, “I’m probably gonna die before this war is over. I might as well enjoy my time before I go buy the farm.”

“It just seems so…” Evans’ reply was interrupted by a loud bang. Instincts kicked in. Grabbing onto Tiscornia and Callahan’s collars, he dove to the ground, pulling them into a ditch on the side of the road. He whispered to them, “That sounded a long way off. Sniper maybe.”

“Sergeant,” Callahan interjected, “That’s just a truck backfiring.”

Ignoring him, Evans continued, “Lance, I need you to run and try and draw his fire. Tiscornia and I will try and take him out. Good luck.” Evans then crawled to the edge of the ditch and mimed a rifle in his hand.”

Tiscornia leaned over to Callahan and whispered, “OK, we’ll need to drag him back to the camp. I’m gonna whack him on the back and tell him he’s taken a shrapnel hit.” He then turned back to Evans, raised his fist, then stopped, “Sergeant’s seemed to have fallen asleep. Let’s just drag him back to camp.”